The Mechanism of Chemical Vapor Deposition of Cubic Boron Nitride Films from Fluorine‐Containing Species

Growing pains: A new surface reaction mechanism for the growth of films of cubic BN (cBN) in an electron cyclotron resonance plasma fed with a reactive gas mixture (BF3/H2/N2) is revealed. The excited plasma contains reactive H, F, BFx, and NHx species which are responsible for the etching of hexagonal BN (mainly through F atoms) and for the growth of the cBN crystals (through BFx and NHx species; see picture).